The Korean War
In late June 1950, the uneasy peace that followed World War II was
shattered by the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, and defense again
became the underlying theme of national policy. The Geological Survey
made an effort to continue the regular program, but of necessity the
staffing of defense activities caused delays or interruptions in other
programs. About three-fourths of the mineral-deposits investigations
were focused on strategic minerals. The military geology program was
expanded, as was the search for radioactive raw materials. The new
program of urban geology was accelerated to aid in civil defense. In
response to a request from the Army's Corps of Engineers, the
topographic mapping program was expanded in an effort to complete
mapping of about 600,000 square miles of strategic importance in 6
years. A unit newly established to investigate the quantity and quality
of water required to produce various manufactured products began with
an investigation of the needs of the steel industry. The Geological
Survey was also given new responsibilities under the Defense Production
Act of 1950, which provided for stockpiling of critical materials,
including, for the Defense Minerals Administration, the evaluation of
applications for loans and the preparation and enforcement of contracts
for the loans. The Petroleum Administration for Defense called on the
Survey to make a special geologic investigation of the newly discovered
Scurry Reef in Texas to aid in planning its development. At the same
time, activities in foreign geology increased in scope and tempo under
the Mutual Security Act of 1951.
The Korean War heightened concern about long-term materials supply in a
world that felt threatened by Soviet expansionism. In January 1951,
President Truman established a Presidential Commission to make an
objective inquiry into the major aspects of the problem. The Survey
furnished a full-time liaison and consultant and made studies of
marginal ore reserves of several mineral commodities and of exploration
and discovery practices for several important minerals for the
Commission. The Commission in its report in June 1952 concluded that
both the Government and private citizens must be involved in ensuring a
long-term supply and that the effort should be carried on "not
periodically at wide-spaced intervals, but day by day and year by
year."32
A cease-fire and armistice in Korea had been proposed in June 1951, 6
months after the Commission was appointed and a year before it issued
its report, but the truce talks were stalemated for 2 years so there
could be no complete return to peacetime conditions. When the armistice
was finally concluded in the summer of 1953, a new Republican
administration with a different perspective and the avowed purpose of
reducing Government spending, balancing the budget, and reducing taxes
had taken over in Washington. President Dwight Eisenhower called for a
cooperative effort in resource development to "level off peaks and
valleys"33 in the economy, but the Appropriations
Committee concluded that the Interior Department should be concerned
only with functions or activities that private enterprise could not or
would not undertake. Progress in the development of a minerals policy
was suspended.
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U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior
This page is http://pubs.usgs.gov/circular/c1050/korean.htm
Maintained by the Eastern Publications Group
Contact Clifford M. Nelson
Last updated 04.10.00